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Author Topic: Late Night Host Smackdown Alex Edwards Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Iowa Registered: Aug 2009 posted 01-15-2010 07:12 PM                  So with all the coverage Conan vs. Leno has been getting I was wondering what various film people thought of the battle. I'm a Conan fan but as long as he's on a network I'm fine.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 01-15-2010 11:34 PM                     I've been watching TV since the late 40s including the Tonight Show from Steve Allen on (no relation). Conan is the most unfunny "comic" I have ever seen and stopped watching him even when he was on his late show. He should have stuck to writing the stuff and let someone else deliver it. Letterman will defeat him hands down.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-15-2010 11:50 PM                        I gotta agree Robert, the guy may be a great writer and may have inventive material, but he should never have come out in front of the camera. His delivery is awful, his personna even worse; there is just nothing comical about his weird and nearly spastic facial contortions. His antics during the interviews are unfunny and and at times downright juvinile. And he seems to make many of the guests visibly uncomfortable. He trys to hard....what humor there is to me always seems forced and strained. Of course nothing will kill humor faster than trying to force it. He make ME uncomfortable watching him. Better he should go back to writing behind the scenes on SNL and spare the rest of us.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 01-16-2010 12:08 AM                     I don't know how anyone can see Leno as being funnier than Conan. Sure, maybe Leno's delivery is more polished, but as the old saying goes "You can't polish a turd." I'll take well-written material performed so-so over a practiced hack any day. Also, with the execs not liking the drop in ratings, they should consider that the first couple years of Leno's time had a drop as well. It took him a couple years to get ratings back again.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-16-2010 12:15 AM                     I'm probably in the minority, but I like Conan O'Brien's dry sense of humor. And his brand of humor owes a lot to David Letterman. IMHO, Jay Leno seriously screwed up and overestimated his sense of popularity. He assumed all his late night viewers would follow him to prime time and then gather additional viewers as well. That didn't happen. And it certainly wasn't going to happen with Leno changing things around to a shitty new format. His prime time show was just plain awful. NBC goofed BIG TIME as well. A bunch of short-sighted, greedy, penny pinching network executives dreaming up new ways to have as few "scripted" TV shows as possible yet expect to retain all the viewers or even gain more. America is fucking tired beyond all hell of "reality TV." All that "unscripted" programming is driving viewers away to their DVRs, various cable channels, the Internet, outdoors or even to the confines of a novel printed on dead trees. Those MBA bastards gathering on the 6th floor of 30 Rock need to be strung up by their ankles and whipped severely as punishment for stupidity. "Oh, but real TV shows with real actors, plots and production value cost too much money and take too much time to develop and cultivate a following of viewers." Tough shit, NBC executive. That's the TV business: YOUR job. This is how it has always been. If you want to be a bean counter, go a few dozen blocks south to Wall Street. Whether someone likes Conan O'Brien or not the fact remains O'Brien stuck it out for umpteen years waiting patiently for Jay Leno to pass the reins of the Tonight Show along to the next guy. Why should O'Brien get screwed over for the mistake of someone else (Leno & NBC executives)? Oh well, NBC has screwed the "late night" guy before, hence the reason why David Letterman is at CBS instead of NBC these days. I think Leno is done. Fucking Conan O'Brien over and sticking Jay back into the 11:30/10:30CST time slot isn't going to work. NBC got away with the act the last time when they gave The Tonight Show to Leno and sent Letterman packing to "Black Rock." This time I don't think the ploy is going to work. I expect NBC to give The Tonight Show back to Jay Leno, but I think a lot of the viewer base will leave. Once Conan O'Brien is screwed by NBC he'll probably try to get something launched at Fox. That would sort of bring Fox "full circle" since the first network show Fox had was a late night show with Joan Rivers. I think O'Brien will do better, but he'll be damaged by this crap as well. The real winner out of this mess: David Letterman.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 01-16-2010 12:40 AM                     quote: Bobby Henderson I'm probably in the minority, but I like Conan O'Brien's dry sense of humor. I'm not sure how you took 3 of us out of 5 constitutes a minority.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-16-2010 12:55 AM                     I guess I'm going by so many other people I personally know who don't like or don't get Conan O'Brien's sense of humor.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 01-16-2010 02:31 AM                        I feel sorry for both on-air guys involved in this total fuckup by the NBC suits. I've met Leno (backstage at Caesars Palace when I was a stagehand there back in the day), and although I don't particularly like his humor, he is a genuinely nice guy. Both Leno and O'Brien are stuck in a bad situation due to their breathtakingly stupid bosses. Oh, and for the record - O'Brien for the win, no matter how this current cockup turns out. But ever since the current schedule started, I've watched neither of them. Being something of a news junkie, I'm usually watching local news at 10pm (KVBC3 on VegasTV) and 10:30 (Fox5) and 11 (KLAS8), and Nightline at 11:35. Letterman comes off as stale and Kimmel continues to make me ill. I just concentrate on my job search or GhibliWiki projects during those timeslots. One thing I make sure not to miss though is Craig Ferguson at 1:35. Refreshingly funny, at least to me (us pilots gotta stick together). Man I wish I could get a job as a suit and get paid what they get paid and have my golden parachute and not have to worry about the consequences of clueless decisions.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 01-16-2010 07:52 AM                        I think O'Brien is pretty funny for the most part, but one thing I would absolutely change about him are the little dances and silly gestures he always does while the audience is laughing at the joke he just told. I just want to say "Calm the hell down, dude, dial it back a notch!" It is distracting from the joke he just told and completely unnecessary. Also, it looks stupid, as if he didn't have enough confidence in his joke so he must do a little dance/motion to entertain us. Other than that, he is fine. As for Jay, I love his Headline sketches (which he doesn't write) and a few other sketches that he doesn't write like the Judgmental Bastard. Jay himself is a HUGE kiss-ass to his guests and that drives me nuts. He never, ever asks any good questions. He also is just too god damn happy. That should be illegal!  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-16-2010 08:13 AM                        Oh well, I'm watching The Colbert Report at that time. Much funnier. According to the NYT's "source" this morning, Conan will walk away with $30million. That should be enough to salve and wounds.  |  IP: Logged Hillary Charles Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 748 From: York, PA, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-16-2010 09:08 AM                     Never warmed up to Leno's Tonight Show, and although I liked Conan in New York, his version of The Tonight Show just isn't gelling to me, either. Now that Letterman has been exposed as a skeeve, he's no longer funny making fun of other skeeves. That leaves me with Craig Ferguson, whom I feel is the funniest and most talented of the bunch today. He can do more with less then all of the rest. At times I find what he does very Kovacsian, a positive comparison I rarely make. NBC really screwed the pooch on this one, something almost everyone predicted.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-16-2010 11:07 AM                     Craig Ferguson is pretty funny. And he's Scottish, which is kind of a plus (I have some Scottish heritage). The only bad thing about Ferguson is he burns up over half the show with his own on camera stuff leaving time for only one guest interview and the other guest stuck in the green room all night. Kind of rude really. For the past several months I really slacked off on watching The Daily Show and Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Although it sounds very superficial it really is difficult to stomach watching SD material when you've become accustomed to watching everything in HD. That problem has finally been solved. Both The Daily Show and Colbert Report FINALLY went to high definition production January 4.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-16-2010 11:12 AM                     I'm sort of embarrassed to say that I have no idea what you guys are talking about! I rarely watch TV. I probably don't even watch 5 hours of TV per week. There are, maybe two or three TV shows I watch on a semi-regular basis. All of those are ones my wife likes to watch. If she didn't watch TV I would probably never watch TV at all. Since Carson left the Tonight Show, I haven't watched late night TV at all. I never liked to see Lenno sitting in Johnny's seat. I certainly don't like O'Brien sitting in Johnny's seat! On rare occasions, I might watch Furguson. He's all right. But, best, he's not sitting in anybody else's seat. He's got his own damn chair and he seems to fill it well. If more people would sit in their own seats and make a name for themselves and stop trying to copy things that other people are doing, maybe I'd watch more television. Instead, I just surf the internet. When I get bored with that, I just go out to the garage and tinker with something. Television is dead, AFAIC.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 01-16-2010 02:37 PM                        quote: Bobby Henderson Jay Leno seriously screwed up and overestimated his sense of popularity. He assumed all his late night viewers would follow him to prime time and then gather additional viewers as well. Actually... Jay had nothing to do with it. NBC greatly underestimated Jay's staying power and penned a bad contract with O' Brien that stated that if he did not get the "Tonight Show" by a certain date they would have to pay him 40 million dollars and he could "walk" Jay was not happy at all about being removed from a show where he was #1 Jay did not want this, he wanted to continue doing the tonight show and beating everyone else. It was not Jay's idea. That is the big misconception. It was a severe mis-calculation by NBC.  |  IP: Logged Greg Anderson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 766 From: Ogden Valley, Utah Registered: Nov 1999 posted 01-16-2010 03:00 PM                        It's not always about who's funniest. The one thing Johnny Carson did best (which we tend to forget) is interview people. It could be the biggest Hollywood star or some grandmother from middle America and Johnny always conducted a great interview. The only person on late night TV who can do a respectable interview is Craig Ferguson. Beyond that, Ferguson can be funny just grinning at the camera and playing with sock puppets. Nobody else on TV can do that! Have you seen William Shatner's interview show? Surprisingly, he's also a fantastic interviewer.  |  IP: Logged

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